Before a preseason game in St. Louis two Octobers ago, Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders sent a message to the opposing locker room via the official scorer who nightly collects starting lineups from each team.
Saunders told the scorer to tell "Thibs" the Wolves would start the game by running a play called "93."
Moments later, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau received the tip and laughed a laugh that echoed down the corridor.
Sure enough, the Wolves opened by running an isolation play for rookie Andrew Wiggins on the left wing.
Both men knew "93" because fundamental parts of their systems and philosophies were coaching fruit that fell from the same tree: that of career coach Bill Musselman.
Musselman coached three-plus NBA seasons with Cleveland and the Wolves from 1980 through 1991, compiled a .302 winning percentage in those two situations with teams that were undermanned and overmatched. But long after Musselman's death in 2000, those who played for him or coached under him worked on in the NBA, planting the roots in a coaching tree in which Saunders, Thibodeau, Scott Brooks, Sam Mitchell, Tyrone Corbin, Sidney Lowe and Bill's son, Eric, all became head coaches there.
Saunders played for Musselman when he was Gophers coach in the 1970s. Thibodeau received his NBA start when Musselman took a chance on a young assistant coach at Harvard and gave him his first pro job with the expansion Wolves' inaugural team in 1989.
"We never worked together," Thibodeau said of the late Saunders last week, "but I always felt like we were connected through Bill."
Last week, Thibodeau accepted a five-year, $40 million contract to become Wolves coach and president of basketball operations. In doing so, he is being entrusted with Saunders' legacy: Young stars Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns and Zach LaVine, a trifecta so talented it convinced Thibodeau to return to a Wolves organization where he started rather than accept one of many offers that were sure to come.
"Flip had a great vision for the team," Thibodeau said. "I had talked to him two years ago and talked to him some a year ago, too, and he knew exactly how he wanted to build it. And he executed the plan. I think that's one of the things that made this so attractive. It's positioned very, very well."
Top-flight teachers
Saunders was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in June, not long before he selected Towns No. 1 overall and made a draft-night trade to acquire Tyus Jones. The summer before, Saunders drafted LaVine 13th overall before later completing the blockbuster trade that brought Wiggins from Cleveland for All-Star Kevin Love in a bigger deal that included two players and a first-round draft pick.
Saunders was hospitalized last September because of complications resulting from his cancer treatments and died in October at age 60.
"Sad, obviously, to lose him at such a young age," Thibodeau said. "He was not only a great, great coach, but a great, great person on top of that."
From Musselman, both Thibodeau and Saunders learned about intensity, precision and attention to detail. Thibodeau went on to work with Jerry Tarkanian, John Lucas, Jeff Van Gundy, Don Chaney and Doc Rivers in 20 years as an NBA assistant from San Antonio, Philadelphia and New York to Houston and Boston before he was hired as a head coach for the first time.
He has worked with college coaching greats Mike Krzyzewski and Jim Boeheim with the U.S. Olympic team, a commitment Thibodeau intends to fulfill with this summer's team that will play in Brazil. He also through the years has worked alongside fellow assistants such as Brendan Malone, who coached under Chuck Daly, Hubie Brown and Rick Pitino and Chaney, who played on two NBA championship teams for the Celtics.
"That's the one thing I benefited from, being around a lot of great coaches," Thibodeau said. "You're a sum of your past experiences. Who are the coaches you've been around? Who are the teams you've been around? You learn from players. You learn from opponents. You learn from the coaches, and I've been around some great coaches. Every day you went to work, it was like you were at the best clinic in the world. We'd throw something out and as assistants we'd say, 'How would Chuck Daly or Hubie Brown or Pat Riley handle this?' I think you can learn from everybody."
Great place to start
It was so long ago, but Thibodeau doesn't underestimate those first two seasons in Minnesota with Musselman.
"You think back to the first time around with Bill and for me, I couldn't have broken into the league under a better guy," said Thibodeau, now 58. "He was such a great coach, such a great teacher and so demanding. You couldn't help from learn. A guy like Musselman, I'll put him up with anybody."
Ask Thibodeau how much Musselman is in him and he'll say all the coaches with whom he has worked are a piece of him.
Others, though, see it.
"I see a lot," said Eric Musselman, now the coach at the University of Nevada. "I see it in Tom's competitive nature and the way he prepares. The bottom line is his teams play hard. I think he'll be great there. I think he's a perfect coach for a young team. You want young players to know how to prepare to be a pro, to know how to get yourself ready through an 82-game season. The way he prepares teams, the single-mindedness to play as hard as you can possibly play, those are all the things young players need to have.
"With any young team, you need to have internal leadership from your head coach and there's no question, he'll provide that."
